Hindsight

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/2010-best-books-teens-complete-list/

This is kind of old news now — I thought I’d posted it already — but the Boston Graphic Artists Guild has a bunch of video clips on their YouTube channel from their graphic novel event, at which I did a presentation and participated in a panel.

Link to the first clip. The rest should pop up in the sidebar.

When I do author visits, I talk a bit about my experiences working on video games. Kids often ask me the following questions:

1. What is your favorite game that you worked on? This (cutscene directed by Dan Thron)

2. What is your favorite game of all time? This (grandfather of Rock Band and all music games)

3. Why did you stop working on video games? The short answer is that I never really wanted to make video games, but kids these days do not believe this answer. So I have to explain about the endless unpaid “crunch” overtime, the lack of creative control, the amount of work that gets wasted and thrown away, and the fact that I get really sick of working at a computer all day. Then they ask me if I will ever go back.

The reviews are in from from pretty much all the major all the major review publications, and The Odyssey has been praised across the board — three starred reviews (Kirkus, Booklist, and The Horn Book), as well as an unexpected mention in The Wall Street Journal. You can see them all on my reviews page, along with recent interviews by Publishers Weekly and Graphic Novel Reporter.

🙂

Candlewick has written teachers’ guides for Beowulf and The Odyssey, and these are now available on their site. Direct links are as follows:

The Odyssey

Beowulf

The Odyssey is on sale TODAY!! Ask for it at your local (preferably independent) bookstore.

And thank you!

Candlewick has posted samples of The Odyssey. They’re using this little Flash widget, which you can embed anywhere. Please try it 🙂

Note that the actual story doesn’t start until page 7.

Did I mention I’m in the middle of working on a new book? For a while I wasn’t sure if I should be talking about it on the internet, but it turns out it’s not a secret at all, and in fact maybe you can help come up with a good title for it! No royalties will be involved for the winning title, but you will be “in the acks” as they say in the book world (the acknowledgments, that is).

So what is this book? It’s a bit of a departure for me, being neither an adaptation, nor truly a graphic novel. It’s also my first time working with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (the fabulous Ann Rider is my editor), and working from a text by another (living) writer (Lise Lunge-Larsen — http://www.liselungelarsen.com/books.php)

Basically it’s a 96-page picture book with some paneled sequences (sort of in-between a graphic novel and a children’s book), on the subject of Greek and Roman mythological characters whose names have become everyday words — Fate, Fortune, Echo, etc. It should be done in October (right around the same time the Odyssey comes out) and released in late 2011. I’m pretty excited with the way it’s shaping up so far.

However, there is one small problem. We aren’t completely happy with any of our title ideas. Please comment or email me if you have any suggestions! It should be punchy and have 11-14 year-old appeal.

Thanks!

(Edit: The title has now been finalized. Gifts From the Gods: Ancient Words & Wisdom From Greek & Roman Mythology)

My wife and I have relocated to the big apple. We found a nice apartment way up in Washington Heights, and so far we are loving it. The move itself was a ridiculous marathon, so here’s hoping we don’t have to do that again anytime soon!

I’m back to work, trying to catch up on my schedule, but will try to post some NY drawings soon.

As I was sorting through some old art, I came across this little gem. It’s from one of my drawing classes at Parsons, and I tried (with dubious success) to draw each of my classmates in their drawing style. I don’t remember all the names (I guess it’s surprising I remember any of them at this point!), but my best guess is, going counterclockwise around the room from the far left, Henry (?), Frank (?), Andrea, PJ (?), Jen, Lyuda, and Matt(?). Fun times.